Me or the Crew?
by SwannTurner
Summary: Based off of the part in the manga where Skulls tries to claim Arto as his reward for saving her life. Alternate ending. Oneshot.


Note: In this fanfic, Arto is slightly more gutsy and Skulls is more BA.

**Me or the Crew?**

"Hey! Wait a minute! Where are you taking me?!" Arto demanded.

A jerk from Skulls' wrist wrenched her across the floor. The pirate captain led her towards the stairs. Arto heard several comments from the crew members they passed.

"Lucky Cap'n," the dark-skinned, bald one remarked.

"Aye," agreed the one who always wore a hat on his head.

Skulls pulled the teenage girl up the stairs by a rope secured around her ankle without a word.

"Where are you taking me?!" she repeated.

"It's well past bedtime," was his less-than-informative answer. "For someone who just narrowly escaped death's grip, you sure are talkative."

_The fire of a pistol, the burn on her shoulder as the salt in the water met the newly-acquired wound. She drifted down into the dark abyss, dazed. __I never found Luce.__Then, Skulls face appeared and she rose to the surface._

"I won't thank you for what you did," she pouted.

"Hmph," he smirked, opening a door to the left. "Then I guess I'll have you as my reward instead."

Skulls nudged her through the door.

"You sleep here with me."

"What?!" Arto squealed. "Wait-"

"Make your choice!" he thundered, shoving her onto the bed. Before she could move, Skulls had a hand on either side of her head and her legs between his, pinning her down.

Leaning over her, he said, "Will it be me alone or the entire crew?" Bending his face closer to hers so that their faces were only a few inches apart, he added, "Whose company do you prefer?"

"Id rather sleep with a hundred pirates than with you!" Arto spat.

He seemed taken aback by this reply. However, that quickly changed from astonishment to anger, which was replaced as a thought formed in his mind.

"Oh, that can be arranged," Skulls remarked, an evil smirk playing across his face as he raised himself off the bed.

"Good-wait, what?!" she squeaked as she was lifted and thrown over the pirate's shoulder like a knapsack.

He hauled her to the deck and the entire crew watched as he dropped Arto like a bag of potatoes. She hit the wood hard, acquiring a few bruises in the process. Arto took a breath to fire an insult at the pirate, but a slight sniff detected a strong aroma in the air.

Rum.

It surrounded and enveloped her in a shroud of sickening tanginess. One whiff had Arto at its mercy, almost making her retch and instantly weakening her. Suddenly, she felt the crew's eyes on her. They seemed to bore into her as knelt in front of Skulls, with an almost expectant look on their faces.

"Free for all, men," he announced, gesturing to Arto.

She tried to back away and make a run for it, but Skulls stepped on the rope around her ankle. Arto stumbled and fell flat on her back, hitting her head. And then they came. Hands. They grabbed her and held down. The girl struggled and tried to squirm away, but to no avail. The hands were too strong and there were way too many of them, plus the rancid smell of alcohol that weakened her efforts wasn't helping.

"Skulls!" Arto panicked, "Why are you-"

"You said you would rather sleep with a hundred pirates than with me," he recalled.

"Not at once!" she shouted. "I was just-"

"Well, unless you want to take it back, you have a very long night ahead of you," haggled the captain. When she remained defiantly silent, he shrugged, "Suit yourself."

Arto was brought back to back reality when a stumbling had tugged at the sheet wrapped around her body. Hot breath mingled with the scent of rum crashed onto her cheek It was then that she finally realized how much trouble she was in. The crew was stone-drunk, reason and morals unable to hinder their actions. They would take advantage of her, despite her efforts.

And Skulls just stood there, watching this event unfold with those mercilessly cold eyes. He was the only one who could save her, stop this madness, but he wouldn't do it. He would not utter the one word that could save her.

With that realization, fear took over. Desperation and instinct fueled her thrashes and kicks to free herself. But iron grips held her down, made her unable to struggle.

Doc, who had heard the commotion, came up to the deck and stopped beside Skulls, perched on the guard rail.

"Don't you think you should interfere?" he suggested to his heir, "This isn't the best way to go about winning a lady's heart."

"I'm not trying to win her heart, I'm teaching her a lesson," he guffawed coldly.

"And what lesson would that be?"

"That I run this ship and my word is law," Skulls glowered.

"And you feel this is the best way to teach her that?" countered Doc.

Skulls said nothing, but watched as his crew attempted to strip his newest recruit.

"Then perhaps I was wrong in choosing you to succeed me as captain. Pirates we may be, but you've never seen me treat another cruelly. That you would have learned from your uncle. A good captain, pirate or not, is fair and treats his subordinates as such, Luce."

With that being said, Doc left and descended to his quarters. Skulls' eyes watched him depart, then flicked back to Arto. The drunken crew had her pinned down as if on a cross. A few tried to pull off the sheet she wore, but were too intoxicated to manage it. The majority of them were brawling over who got her first.

_Luce had been listening to the girl's voice for the better part of an hour. The song she was currently vocalizing ended, dropping the room into a temporary silence._

_"Sing that song again," his uncle, the governor ordered._

_A woman in the child's troupe protested that another song would strain her throat too much, but the girl fought off the accusation, and prepared to sing the song for a thirtieth time. Before she could start again, though, Luce gave her a gentle push to stop her. It wasn't that her singing was bad, it was mesmerizing, but this was too much._

_"Enough is enough uncle!" he objected. "Come Armeria!" he breathed, pulling her by the hand. "My uncle and aristocrats are all the same. They don't care about others except those of their own class."_

_"You're different, Luce," she cooed, dark chocolate brown hair flowed pass her shoulders, brown eyes staring up at him adoringly._

Skulls was brought back to the present by a shriek from Arto. She struggled in vain against the hands feeling her body. Seeing that he had put in a position like his uncle had done made him ashamed.

"Damn it," he snarled, slamming his fist down on the guard rail.

"Okay men, hands off," he ordered, but they were too immersed with Arto and fighting to notice.

BANG!

The whole ship turned and froze. Skulls stepped forward and snatched Arto from the crew's arms. He turned her away from them, wrapping his arms protectively around her.

"As you were," he barked.

The crew went back to the ale, grumbling. Luckily, they wouldn't remember the event in the morning because of all the alcohol. He led the girl down to his cabin by her shoulders. She stumbled, defeated, without a word. Once there, he guided her to his bed. Arto knew what was coming, but didn't try to fight it. She knew the consequences and wasn't going to try her luck again, but that didn't stop her from cringing as he lay her down. To here surprise, he put a blanket over her and she relaxed. With that, he turned and closed the door.

"I'm sorry, Armeria," he whispered before heading up to the deck.

As he did so, Skulls passed Doc's cabin, where he was meaning against the door frame.

"It seems I was right about you after all, Luce," he added before the captain disappeared above.

* * *

**I was thinking of just leaving this story as is, but if I get some reviews, I might write another chapter or two. So please review!**


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